KFP Next Gen Finale (Part 1 of 3): The Overlord Cometh
by jweaks2016
Summary: Kai; Sin; Mr. Ping; Master Monkey. All were close friends of the masters and heroes of the Jade Palace, and all were killed by Overlord's conquest. However, the students are determined to flip the tables, and they start a hunt for the true identity of this illusive enemy. However, five will die because of this, and his identity will shock all. Rated T for some disturbing scenes.
1. Previously, on KFP Next Gen

**Hello previous readers and new readers! Welcome to the first out of three parts of the series finale! After the finale is over, I'm debating on whether or not to stop writing Kung Fu Panda fics and keep trying my hands at new things. Be sure to leave your thoughts!**

**P.S.: I'm running out of ideas for new stories in this section after this series, so that's why I'm saying this now.**

**Here is a quick recap of all of the past important events…**

"You the boss?" The bull asked.

"Yes, I am. Please, don't call me 'boss.' It sounds so…stuck up. Call me Overlord for now. Are the supplies ready?" The figure hissed.

"Yes. All of our supplies and ammunition are ready. We just need to rally more troops and acquire our sleeper agents, along with buying more weapons." The bull explained.

"Good. Things are coming together nicely. Gather more men in private. We don't want to attract any attention and ruin our plan. As for the sleeper agents, make sure they are in every city as well as in... the prize, is what we'll call it for now. Continue to smuggle weapons into the city via old fruit carts and clothing boxes. Understood?"

* * *

"Don't come in here! You don't wanna see this!" Dega's father warned.

The white tiger, Kiro, turned back to face the engravings. All around him, detailed and precise carvings of a ruined Chinese city engulfed in flames were engraved in the walls. To his right, a small army with what looked to be the Elemental Hazards were charging towards a jaguar in light and dark blue combat armor with an army right behind him. To his left, Kiro saw what looked to be Max, Sierra, and Arizona leading another small army against a young snow leopard with a giant mass of soldiers behind him. Behind the white tiger, he saw Po, Tigress, him and the others fighting what looked to be a black tiger in all white and black, with a flaming staff by their apparent foe's side and a large army behind the tiger. Finally, in front of Kiro, a greatly enhanced figure shrouded by a black hood stood before what looked to be Tang. The figure's face or species could not be made out, though. The only body part that was shown was the figure's right arm, which was covered by a black combat armor with horns and spikes traveling up the side. A carving of two cobras intertwined in each other was plastered on the top of the armor. An inscription of "The prophecy will be fulfilled" was edged into the wall above the giant figure.

* * *

But most of all, Overlord thought of his stepfather; the one who had given him the idea of conquering China, and the one who drove him to where he was now.

His stepfather; a wolverine named Sage.

* * *

Soon, Sin was approaching the farm outside of the valley. The plantations and fields were growing their different types of vegetables while the orchards were busy growing fresh fruit. The shabby old grey tool shed stood about a hundred feet away from the fields, and Sin noticed that the door was slightly open.

Walking up to the cabin, he noticed that a symbol of two intertwined snakes was carved into the wooden door.

_That wasn't there before…_ Sin thought, growing slightly worried.

The fox pushed open the door to find his brother, bound to a chair with a gag in his mouth.

A dagger stuck out from where Kai's heart was in his chest.

Sin rushed over and quickly checked his brother's vitals to see if Kai was still alive.

But it was too late.

Kai was dead.

* * *

The black tiger sighed before she pushed open the door to Mr. Ping's room and sat down across from him. The goose was obviously startled to see her, but was also confused as to her identity.

"I don't believe we've met before. Do I know you?" The goose asked.

"Yes," Zina replied, carefully placing a bomb under her chair and setting the dial, "I am an old…acquaintance…of your son's. We knew each other from way back when. I just wanted to see how you were doing. I heard about your incident."

* * *

The adopted son of the Dragon Warrior was still getting over the unexpected murder of his grandfather, Mr. Ping. He didn't understand why someone killed his grandfather, but he had a feeling that it had something to do with Xin, the son of Tai Lung and one of his most recent enemies.

* * *

Chao, a tiger at heart and the leader for one of the teams that guarded the emperor of China, was a bold, daring, and sometimes funny individual. Not much is known from Chao's past, since he didn't like to talk about it. The only thing he would tell people when they asked was, "It was hard, at the time."

His team, team 59, was one of the best in the palace and was the Emperor's favorite to have with him whenever he went places. It consisted of three soldiers: Himself, Drift, and Specter.

Drift was the funny guy of the group, being that no matter how bad the situation was or how deadly things became, the hyena always had something witty to say. Drift was kind, lighthearted, and very handsome, and would often score up more dates than any other guy in the palace.

Specter was the quiet one. The white monkey was kind most of the time, serious, and was always battle ready. He carried his sword, a small crossbow, and a dagger with him at all times, which weirded some out. Nobody had ever seen Specter's face, because the chimp had it wrapped with grey cloth all around his head, so you could only see the very brim of his nose and his grey tiger lion unsheathed his swords and plunged into the fray.

* * *

"Why're these guys attacking you?" Dega asked his friend.

"They weren't! They were attacking her!" Max replied, fending off a wolf with one hand and pointing to a quivering teenage tigress.

"Hello! What might your name be?" Dega asked the girl, punching a bandit in the face and blasting another with his power swords.

"Catherine…"

* * *

Kiro spread out his sketches of the two intertwined serpents on the table and studied each one closely.

_There must be a connection with these symbols…_ The white tiger thought.

After a while of studying and pondering, the answer hit Kiro in the face like a hard punch.

_They all stand for death!_

* * *

"So, professor, whaddya say?" Dega sighed. "Is it logical to date me?"

Crane smiled and Viper bounced in joy slightly. Kiro nudged the avian master with his elbow. "Told ya so."

After a few moments of silence, the snake was able to find her voice. "Highly logical."

The room erupted in applause and shouts of happiness as the crowd carried Dega and Lily out of the club and into the streets, where Lily wrapped around her new boyfriend and gave him a monstrous kiss.

* * *

"At ease, soldiers. I'm afraid I have some bad news. You see, we have reason to believe that one person in all of you put together, is a traitor." The Emperor stated gravely.

Immediately, whispering and murmuring spread through the soldiers like a plague.

"Quiet! Quiet, all of you! Quiet! Now, we don't know who it is yet, but we know for a fact that it is one of you. This person is a traitor—an assassin sent to harm us all. From who, you may ask? We don't know. We are currently investigating all of you as we speak. If anyone has anything that would help us, please feel free to talk with us afterwards. Be wary, be alert, and trust no one. You're dismissed." The snake explained.

* * *

Master Monkey agreed and the two entered Dega's room and began searching. Eventually, Max noticed a carving on one of Dega's walls.

"Weird that he would have this symbol on his wall." Max stated, looking at it.

"Meh. I'm sure he just thought it looked cool." Monkey replied, shrugging it off and continuing his search.

They kept on searching, forgetting about the symbol of two intertwined snakes on the wall.

As Max moved towards Dega's window, he stopped searching and stood up; his ears were twitching.

"Do you hear that?" The Bengal tiger asked.

"Hear what?" The chimp questioned, pausing and listening.

"Sounds like ticking. I don't know where that i—"

Max was cut off by an explosion that went off in the room, sending the tiger flying out of the window and rolling down the large mountain.

* * *

The masters and some of the students collapsed and started to weep over the charred, lifeless Monkey, who was slumped in the corner of the room. The other students were frantically searching for Max, who was nowhere to be found.

* * *

The tigress got up and walked inside the palace. She dug into her nap sack and brought out two time bombs and walked towards Dega's room. She smiled and scratched the back of her neck, where a small tattoo of two intertwined snakes was and entered the tiger lion's room.

_A shame that these people have to die. I really was growing to like them._ Catherine thought, placing the time bomb under a chair in the room and setting the dial.

After doing so, she carved the snake symbol into Dega's wall and exited the room. Cat then walked back to the group of students, claiming that she had just gone for a little walk and also had to use the restroom.

_Overlord'll be proud…_

* * *

"I'm worried about Tang," Takami stated, "He hasn't been himself since Mr. Ping died."

"We'd better keep an eye on him. Agreed?" Ryo added.

"Agreed." The rest of the Elemental Hazards replied.

* * *

"Your friends are dead because you failed to stop Overlord. He seized control of China and took all of its cities. As long as there is one city still standing, though, this won't happen to them. Why I'm here? How are we in the same dream? I have no answer for that. I'm not sure why I'm even speaking with you right now. Maybe it's to make you understand why I did what I did."

"You did it for your master, Overlord." The Bengal tiger shot.

"No. I did it for my father and sister. You see, Max, Overlord has them captive. If I don't do their bidding, then they die. He already killed my mother to make a point…"

Max cautiously walked over to the grave she was looking at and saw the inscription on the stone:

Stephanie Tigre. A loving wife, and a great mother to Catherine Tigre and Hannah Tigre.

"I'm…sorry. I didn't know. Why didn't you tell us this when we first met you, though? We would've helped!" Max reasoned.

"No. Overlord has eyes and ears everywhere. He would've found out and killed them."

* * *

"I work for a person named Overlord. They've hired me to raise money for them and sent me here to primarily extract any information that you guys have collected on our group." Sin began.

"Overlord?" Tang exclaimed in surprise. "Why does this Overlord want us dead?"

"They want to take over China, and apparently only you guys can stop him."

"Isn't that always the case…" Tang muttered.

"They're hideout is located inside the old abandoned Sip-Ta Clothing factory, and I know that Zina as—"

Before Sin could finish, an arrow came crashing through the window of the room and slammed into his chest, sending the fox flying to the ground.

"SIN!" The panda yelled, ducking down and crawling over to the dying fox. "HOLD ON! HELP! GUYS!"

"Xin…is an asso…ciate…" Sin choked, coughing and hacking as he rolled on his side.

"Xin? The son of Tai Lung?"

The fox nodded slowly and painfully, clutching his wound and dragging himself across the floor.

"Hang in there, Sin! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?" Tang shouted. "DAD! MOM! ANYONE!"

Sin was able to get close enough to Tang that he could grab the panda and pull him in close enough where he could whisper a warning to his friend.

"A storm is c-coming…Tang. People you…though you knew will…t…urn against you and…kill you-r friends…like me…T-trust no one and…always be on guard… There will… be others, who…die…Prepare yourself, T-ang…You must always be on guard!"

Sin was slowly lifting himself to his feet while saying this to Tang.

"SIN! Get down!" The panda cried, attempting to pull the fox down to the ground again.

Just then, another arrow zipped through the window and smacked into Sin's head, killing him on impact.

* * *

"Ah, did you get my scroll?" Overlord asked kindly, strolling up to the panda.

"Why'd you stab Dega?" Tang growled.

"Incentive, to make you realize, if you still had any doubt, that I'm not playing around when it comes to this matter. Besides, he became annoying. However, now that you're here, your other friends can go unharmed!" The figure in black explained.

The teenage panda chucked the scroll at Overlord, who caught it and pocketed the paper.

"Fight me…" Tang snarled.

* * *

"With everything that has been going on, I've gotten some time to think about some things and… and… Oh, never mind! It was a stupid idea anyway." Zan backed out, turning to leave.

However, Lupa's paw grasped his shoulder, making him stay in one place.

"What's wrong, Zan?" She asked.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to date me, but with all that's been going on and with this Overlord guy attacking all of us, it was a bad idea. Forget I even brought up this conversation, alright? Sorry to have bothered you…" The avian stated rapidly before walking off.

* * *

"Hey Zan. How ya holding up?" She said, standing beside him.

"Oh! Uh, hey! I'm fine. I guess that it… I mean, everything is just… It is a lot to take in, I mean knowing that out there, somebody is trying to kill us, and is willing to do whatever it takes to do so."

"I hear ya. Remember that fight between who Tang described as Overlord and Po? Nobody could just up and vanish like that! I mean, Po's told us about one time he had to fight ghosts to save his old master and his friends, but I doubt that is what's going on here."

"Yeah. So, uh, what's up?"

Lupa sighed. "I've thought about your offer Zan, and…I just don't see us as compatible. I mean, you're sweet and kind and brave, but I just… I don't want what happened to Kai and Sin to happen to you. Both of the guys I used to like are dead at the hand of the guy who's trying to kill us, and I don't want that happening to you too. Can you understand?"

Zan looked up at the sky again and sighed. "Yeah, I understand. Thanks for at least giving me an answer."

"No problem. Friends?"

"Friends."

* * *

"I'll get it, I guess." The white tiger sighed, walking over to the door and opening it to find Catherine.

"YOU?" Everyone in the room said, surprised.

"Ok, back to jail you go!" Arizona exclaimed, forcing the tigress to the wall and pinning her.

"Max! I need your help! It's my sister and father!" Cat called out.

"What? Let her go, Zona!" Max ordered.

"Are you insane? She killed Monkey and almost blew you up!" Dega protested, waving one of his green power swords in front of Catherine's face. "Sharp, ain't it?"

"Hear her out!" Max replied. "Catherine, tell your story again."

After Cat explained why she had done what she had done again, the heroes eased up on her, except for Dega, who refused to sheath his swords again.

"Why're you here?" Musaki asked.

"Overlord is going to be attacking in a few hours, so he's too busy preparing for that to keep tabs on me. T—"

"Are we fighting a ghost though? I mean, when we took off his mask, there was nothing there." Arizona cut in.

"No. I know for a fact that someone is under all of those wrappings and all. I don't know the actual name of this guy or his species, but I know there's someone under the mask. As I was saying, this means that after Overlord has left, there'll only be two of his henchmen left, being Xin and Jaguar X." Catherine explained.

"Wait, Tang told us a few months ago that he fought this guy named Xin. Same guy and same mastermind. We also know that Zina is working with Overlord for, more than likely, revenge against the masters. Who's Jaguar X though?" Max asked.

"I'm not sure about X's past. The only thing I do know is that he is able to see into the future when he wants to and can teleport."

The white tiger snapped his fingers. "Remember a while back when we saw that blue guy tailing us but when we almost had him he vanished? I bet that was this X guy!"

"That sounds like Jaguar X. Getting back to my point, after we get past Xin and X, we should be able to get to my dad and sister and free them!" Catherine finished.

"Why should we help you?" Dega asked, walking to the other side of the room.

"If we defeat Xin and Jaguar X, you could capture and question them, I'll be able to show you their new hideout location, and with my family being free, you'll never see me again." The tigress explained.

* * *

He pointed his weapons at the black tiger, and soon, red cuffs and chains wrapped around her hands, feet, and torso, immobilizing the assassin.

"Gotcha." Kiro exclaimed proudly, kneeling down to face Zina. "You're a tough one to get rid of. I mean, if a whack from a giant hammer and plummeting back to the earth didn't kill ya, or at least break every bone in your body, I don't know what will. Either you're the luckiest bad guy, er, girl I have ever met, or you're indestructible."

In response, Zina spit in his face and growled. Kiro rubbed off the saliva, stood up, looked down on his cousin, and smirked.

"How the tables have turned, eh? Years ago, you brainwashed Tigress, my sister, and held me prisoner. You killed Crane, but he came back as a shifter. Don't know why he prefers to stay as a crane. It'd be really cool if he were a tiger. Tigers are awesome. We're the most fun to be around, except for Tigress, and we crack amazing jokes, except for Tigress. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. You get what I'm talking about, way back when. Now, though, you're the prisoner…" Kiro rambled.

* * *

"Thank you for helping me. I'm sorry I got you all into this mess. I'll free you all and then we'll go our separate ways." Catherine continued.

"We practically did nothing! We got captured and then sat in a chair for a while! That doesn't sound like helping to me!" The tiger lion snorted.

After Catherine freed the three students, they received another huge thanks from Cat and her family, and then they parted ways, never to meet again.

* * *

"I'm thinking of getting a tattoo. Ya know, something awesome or vicious that strikes fear into the hearts of bad guys! I want the one that you have, Chao." The hyena stated, stroking his chin.

"Oh? I didn't know you had a tattoo, Chao." Specter added. "What is it?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." The tiger replied, brushing off the question.

"I'll tell ya what it is!" Drift laughed. "It's one of those snake tattoos. Yeah, two of 'em that are intertwined with one another, right on his arm! It looks sick!"

_So they don't know the meaning of the tattoo yet, huh? Heh, if they did, then they'd know that I'm the, 'traitor', as they've labeled me._ Chao thought as he continued to walk with the two soon to be dead warriors. _Well, I guess they'll find out sooner or later, when Overlord claims the royal palace…_

* * *

As he entered his room, a hand clamped over his mouth and a needle was shoved into his neck, making him dreary and forcing him into a sleep-like trance.

"Mind control formula; the one that was stolen from the Jade Palace." Overlord whispered, letting go of the student. "We may be down, but we are far from out. Kill Kiro Takimuro, the master who captured Zina, and then free my assassin before taking your own life. Understood?"

Kidduo slowly nodded in reply.

"Good." The villain murmured before leaping out of the open window in the room.

In the main hall of the palace, Kiro stood looking out one of the windows. Kidduo took one of his pistols out of its holster and started walking down the hallway. His mind was filled with murderous thoughts and his eyes were glazed over as he made his way over to kill the unsuspecting master of the Jade Palace. As he neared, the student clicked the safety off. Only a few feet from Kiro, Kidd raised the pistol to where the tiger master's heart was and steadied himself.

It was then that Kiro turned to head back to see Mei Ling, who was recovering nicely from the throwing star wounds, when he caught a glimpse of the student, but didn't see the pistol.

"Hey Kidd! What's u—?"

Bang.

The gunshot rang through every hall in the palace, alerting all in the building. Kiro gasped a little, then collapsed to the floor.

**There's the recap of the important events that have happened so far! Hope you guys recall all this, and welcome all new readers to the finale!**

**I'll post more in a little bit.**

**More to come…**


	2. Killing the Unkillable

**Hello everyone (including Tekken) and welcome to the first new, non-recap chapter of the finale!**

**Like I said, I'll be changing the format of the story from now on so it'll be easier to see the transitions between characters.**

**Let us begin…**

*Five minutes later, with the masters and students*

The masters and students of the palace rushed towards the sound of the gunshot. When they got there, Kidd was slowly walking away from Kiro, who lay on the ground, surrounded by red.

"Really? Again? WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?" Dega shouted, collapsing to his knees and holding his head. "Can't I have a break from all this?"

"Dad!" Lupa cried, running up to her father. "Dad! Get up! You have to get up! Come on!"

"Kiro. Kiro!" Tigress called out, kneeling down by her brother. "Can you hear my voice?"

"KIDDUO!" Takami roared, kicking the gun out of his entranced friend and pinning him to the ground. "Snap out of it! Wake up! Kidd!"

"Step aside! Let the Dragon Warrior do his thing!" Po said, moving through the crowd of students and masters.

"This…i…is…gonna hur…t…in the m…morning…" Kiro gasped. "He gave…it his b…best…shot…heh…heh…"

"Idiot," Mei Ling, Kiro's wife, sobbed. "Don't joke now. This isn't a joking matter."

"Eliminate…the sadness in…the w…world…with laugh…ter… That's my…motto…" Kiro coughed, then smiled painfully. "Ha..."

Finally, Po made his way up to Kiro after pushing through his students and knelt beside the white tiger master. "How ya doin', buddy?"

"Better days, Po. Better…days."

The Dragon Warrior placed his hands over the wound in the tiger master's body. "How many times have you cheated death?"

"Lots…But death hates…to be cheated…and I've done it way too…m…many times," Kiro croaked.

"Po, stop messing around," Tigress ordered. "He's running out of time."

The panda master closed his eyes and felt his hero's chi mix with his inner peace, flow out of him, and into Kiro. After a couple of minutes of this, Po removed his hands and opened his eyes.

The wound was still there.

Blood was still coming out of Kiro.

"What?" Po exclaimed, shocked and a little frightened. "It worked on stab wounds before…"

That was it. All of the other times he had healed people he had been able to pull the object out of the person and heal them. This time, the bullet from Kidd's gun was still in the white tiger's chest. Deep.

"Do we have anything to get the bullet out?" Tang asked, growing worried.

"No. Nothing…" Viper whispered. "We never anticipated a situation such as this, so we were never prepared."

Mei Ling and Lupa sat right beside Kiro and started to cry. They were about to lose him. Dega stood a few feet away, paralyzed with sadness and fright.

"The doctors won't get here fast enough if we alert them," Crane stated.

"Look on the bright side…everyone. I might become a shifter…like Crane…now…" Kiro said weakly. "Oh! Hey…Song…"

Many years ago, Song was the girlfriend of Kiro, but was killed by Grandmaster Feng, an old villain whom Kiro was able to kill; the only villain Po was not able to beat on his own. After Song died, she managed to stick around in Kiro's subconscious and give him advice, or simply talk with him.

"Huh…Well that…sucks…" Kiro choked. "She… says Oogway says I…can't come back…as a shifter…Not my destiny…and all that…o…ther stuff."

* * *

*With Overlord, nine minutes later*

"Xin, I'm extremely disappointed in your actions. You not only got played, but you fought against our own guards and Jaguar X, and let Catherine and her family escape," Overlord stated, pacing back and forth in front of the Jaguar.

"I'm sorry, Overlord. I let my emotions get in the way of our goal," Xin replied, his head bowed.

"I don't want your sorry! You screwed up! Because you screwed up, X was not able to open a portal for Zina and now she is captured. On top of that, a very skilled bomber has escaped from our grasp. And NOW, upon all of this, I have received word that the Emperor is closing in on Chao in the royal palace. Needless to say, I'm not having an extremely good day," The figure seethed.

"It won't happen again," The snow leopard said. "It was a mistake."

"Mistake?" Overlord questioned, turning to face the leopard.

"Uh, yes?"

"You attacked one of our own, Xin, and you let her escape! You have one chance to prove yourself worthy again, OR YOU WILL JOIN YOUR FATHER!" Overlord roared, pinning Xin to the wall and holding a sword to his neck. "DO I MAKE MYSELF ABSOLUTLEY CRYSTAL CLEAR?"

"Yes."

Overlord let Xin go and sheathed the weapon. "You are on close watch. One more 'mistake' and you'll be in the ground with Sin, Monkey, and the others."

* * *

*With the students and masters*

"Lupa…Come here…" Kiro sighed.

The daughter of Kiro and Mei Ling scooted over to her father in reply.

"I want you to have…my weapons…" The white tiger master said, pulling out his staffs. "I had these…in hard times…and now…I won't you to have…th…em…for the harder times ahead…"

"Dad. No, I can't!" The female tiger lion cried.

"Stop crying…I get to see Los…and Song…and Sashi again…I get to see Sato, my…brother again…as well as…Master Shifu…and Oogway…" Kiro whispered. "I'm looking forward…to all of this…"

Mei Ling began to cradle her husband's head tenderly, and Tigress sniffled once behind her. This was the most emotion Tigress had shown anybody but her adopted son and Po in a while.

"I'll tell them…you said hi…sis…"

Tigress nodded in reply, keeping her stone faced expression.

"I'll miss you Mei…and you too Lupa… Dega! Come here…boy!"

Dega slowly walked over to his father and stopped. He was trying his best to look strong and brave, but he was no Tigress. His legs were shaking, and there was a lump in his throat the size of the Dragon Warrior. He could barely breath.

"I want you…to carry on…my joke telling…You and Kiba…are the masters of mischief…Keep it up…Keep being…reckless…"

"Don't say that! You'll give me a heart attack!" Mei Ling said, smiling weakly.

"Keep training…my students…Train hard…Viper, Crane, and Mantis…it has been…a great pleasure fighting and…m…eeting you…"

The three masters smiled sadly and nodded.

"I'm losing a brother!" Mantis wailed.

"Buck up, bug…Po…It's been a thrill…fighting with…the Dragon Warrior…You're awesome, man…the stories were true before I met you…Sorry for kicking your butt when we first…met though…"

Kiro weakly held up his hand for a fist bump, and Po delivered.

"Time to see my parents…Family reunion everyone!"

With that, Kiro closed his eyes, and after thirty more seconds of agony, the white tiger master slipped away.

Dega collapsed to his knees in awe while Mei Ling and Lupa began to cry. Viper had tears welling up in her eyes, and Po, Tigress, Crane, Mantis, and all of the other students bowed their heads in respect.

Their master, their friend, and their brother, was gone.

Kiro was dead.

**OH MY! I killed off the character that has been with us since my first story! I killed off the character that I based myself off of!**

**Sad day…**

**I'll update in a few days. Hope this chapter was riveting enough for you all!**

**More to come…**


	3. A New Plan

**Hello again everyone! Welcome back to the finale! Now, I know a few people who followed my stories for a while know that Kiro, the character who died in the last chapter, was my main OC and was in seven out of the eight past KFP stories, as well as my main source of comedy and joke telling. Some people might have even labeled him as their favorite character, but be honest, how many authors are unpredictable enough to kill off their favorite (yes, he was my favorite too) OC that they created after themselves? But that's why you like my stories right? No one is safe…**

**Any who, here's the new, and somewhat sad, chapter.**

*Five minutes later, with Lupa, Tigress, and Mei Ling*

The three warriors barged into the room where Zina was contained. This was the same room of which Catherine was interrogated.

"I just got these weapons from my father. My DEAD father," Lupa snarled, pinning the tips of the red staffs to the black tigress' chest. "I don't know exactly how they work, but are you willing to let me find out? You could be my test subject."

"So, Kiro is dead?" Zina asked, looking at Mei Ling, and the lioness nodded sadly in response.

Zina then smiled sinisterly and turned to Tigress. "One down, one to go."

Tigress snapped. She roared in anger, shoved Lupa off of the assassin, and pinned Zina to the wall. The black tigress winced a little and then smiled again.

"Well, I knew when Kiro and I first met that only one of us would eventually survive. Guess I outlived him," Zina said suavely.

"If you want to have any REMOTE chance of living to see another sunrise, then you WILL tell us where Overlord's hideout is," Tigress demanded. "Do not assume that I have the inner peace right now that the Dragon Warrior has to keep myself from gutting you like a fish."

"Tigress…" Mei Ling said.

"You killed my brother. She has lost a husband. Lupa and Dega have lost a father. We have all lost a friend. The students have lost another master," Tigress continued. "Tell us, or I WILL throw you down the mountain."

After two minutes of silence, Zina looked deep into Tigress and chuckled slightly. "I will never say a word. Overlord saved me and has never betrayed me. I will never betray him."

* * *

*With Takami, Ryo, Tang, Dega, and Kidduo, in Dega's room, fifteen minutes later*

Dega's room had been transformed into a poor interrogation room. Everything, except the large hole in the wall from which a bomb had been detonated, the same bomb that killed Master Monkey and injured Max, was the same. A chair holding the bound Kidduo sat in the center of the room. After a hard beating to the head from Kaizer, Kidd snapped back to reality, and the affect that the potion had on the student was gone.

"Why, Kidduo? Why did you pull that trigger?" Takami asks, starting to get in the students face. "That wasn't like you. You're…not a murderer. We all know that for a fact. What happened that made you do this?"

"I…don't know. All I remember was going into my room and then a sharp pain in my neck. After that, I-I don't remember anything," Kidd responded, slumping his head forward. "I'm so sorry everyone."

"Sorry won't bring my dad back…" Dega muttered.

"A sharp pain in your neck, you say?" Tang asked. "Where?"

"Around the middle section of the left side of my neck. I've killed him. I…" Kidd began whispering again.

The student had been torn at the core. Kiro was the master who had trained him, Dega, and Kaizer on how to control your weapons and different ways to get out of difficult situations. Kidd had killed his own, personal master.

"Get Lily to come in here," Tang ordered. "I want her to check something out."

After a few minutes, the snake entered the room.

"Hi Dega," Lily greeted weakly. "Uh, what did you guys want me to take a look at?"

"Hm, check Kidduo's neck. Look towards the…middle section of his left side, was it?" Ryo stated. "I think I know where Tang is going with this."

Lily, after twenty minutes, finally came up with something.

"I've found a tiny needle hole where Kidd described the pain. What do you guys suspect?" The snake student explained.

"When I stole that scroll from the Jade Palace a little while back, it was for a mind control potion. That plus the needle mark could only mean that somebody, whether it is Overlord or one of his goons, used that potion to have Kidd kill Master Kiro," Tang said, piecing the clues together.

"So, I didn't kill Kiro?" The saddened Kidd asked.

"You did, but you didn't, if that makes any sense," Dega answered, continuing to look through the gaping wall out into the sky.

* * *

*Fifteen minutes later*

"Well? Anything?" Po asked as all of the masters and students gathered around.

"Zina won't give us anything, as I anticipated," Tigress mumbled. "What about you, son?"

"We've actually found out that Overlord or someone who works for him used that stolen mind control potion to use Kidd to kill Kiro," The young panda explained.

"Well, at least that gives us a little bit of information. Since Overlord has the formula, he can reproduce it as much as he wants," Crane stated. "Although, as we now know, a hard hit to the head can knock the person out of the trance."

"Wait, didn't Grandmaster Feng have a mind control potion a while back?" Mantis asked.

"Yeah," Viper sighed. "That went down with him though. The serum was lost."

After a few minutes of silence, Po thought it would be best if everyone took some time off from their training, especially the students of the now deceased master.

"I'm also calling a masters meeting. We need to figure out what to do next," Po finished before walking off to his quarters.

* * *

*With the kids of the masters and the Elemental Hazards*

After Max had stated that he and his comrades were going to go for a walk in the valley to blow off steam, Takami called a meeting of the remaining students.

"So, anyone know what to do next?" The leader of the Hazards asked. "We can't just stand around and do nothing."

"I agree with Takami," Kaizer added. "This is more than likely the work of Overlord himself. It was up close and personal, but sneakily done. From what I've seen in Overlord's fighting, this is his style."

"This guy seems to know almost everything about us, our moves, our fighting styles, our weaknesses, and we know almost nothing about him or his team," Skyler said.

"Not necessarily," Dega muttered. "A little while back, Catherine came by again asking for help from us to free her parents. In the briefing she gave us, we did, in fact, find out that Overlord is an actual person and not a ghost, Xin is indeed a pawn for Overlord and the son of Tai Lung, Zina works for Overlord also, of which we already know, and there's a guy named Jaguar X who can see in the future and summon portals on command."

"So that's how that jaguar escaped us a while back!" Ryo said, snapping his fingers. "Did Catherine get a look at Overlord? His species?"

"Not that she let on, but we helped her get her family back and she's back in Europe now, so we have no means of finding her," The tiger lion stated. "That's the reason why we missed that big fight that one day."

"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Kovu asked, and Dega shrugged lightly.

"We have to do something! We need to fight back!" Tang exclaimed, clasping his hands together. "We need to put these assaults to a hault."

"No matter what we do, no matter who we capture, no matter how hard we try, we will never stop the attacks on us from Overlord! We can interrogate Zina all we like, but she'll never break, and you know that!" Takami explained, pointing at Tang. "The only way we can truly stop these guys is to find out who Overlord is, and when we do that, we can find their weak spot."

"The search begins!" Kiba cheered, jumping up and down slightly.

Dega smiled weakly at his wolf dog friend and sighed. They were friends alright; two peas in a pod; the two jokers of the Jade Palace.

_The masters of mischief…_ Dega thought.

* * *

*With Kiro, in the afterlife, five minutes later*

"I never thought…that the afterlife…had so many stairs leading up…to it…" Kiro panted as he collapsed at the top of the steps. "That's like…three times the length…of the Jade Palace stairs…Po's gonna hate that…"

"Buddy!" Los exclaimed, jogging up to the white tiger and giving him a bear hug. "Great to see you again! Sorry about you being dead and all, but it's not all bad! You can have so much fun! You can spawn anything you want here!"

Kiro's eyes widened. "Really? Alright! That sounds spectacular! Good to see you, man!"

"Welcome back to our world, Nutcase," Sashi greeted. "Great to have ya back."

"Great to be back, uh, I guess!" Kiro replied, pushing Los off of him and giving the female wolf a hug. "You guys haven't aged at all!"

"Neither have you. Take a look," Sashi responded, motioning to a mirror.

When Kiro went over and looked at himself in the mirror, he was shocked to find that he now looked like he did when he first met the Jade Palace masters, about twenty years ago. "Cool. I look sweeter than ever now!"

"Well, I guess I'm unemployed," Song said, walking up to the white tiger. "My job of saying things in your subconscious is gone."

"What's up, Song?" Kiro laughed, giving Song a hug. "How've ya been? I haven't heard from any of you in a while!"

"We've been…busy, here. Anyway, I think some other people want to say hi," Song continued, motioning to Master Shifu and Master Oogway, who were walking up to Kiro.

"Aw, no! Am I gonna have more brutal training regimens in the afterlife?" The white tiger groaned.

The red panda chuckled. "Not unless you want some. Welcome, Kiro. It's nice to see you again."

"My, you haven't changed a bit, I see," Oogway croaked, looking at Kiro from head to toe. "Just as I remember you."

"Good to see you, old timer," The white tiger laughed.

"Brother!" A voice called out in the distance.

Kiro turned to see a tiger slightly older than him with white, black, and orange stripes running up to him. "Sato!"

Sato was killed many years ago in Japan by the order of his real father, Emperor Jow. Jow had ordered Zina to kill Sato in order to trick Tigress and bring her to their side. It obviously failed in the end, but Sato was killed in the process by a rock slide.

"How's my favorite brother doing?" Kiro asked, hugging his brother.

"I'm your only brother!" Sato exclaimed.

"EXACTLY!" Kiro shouted in joy. "Jokes, jokes, jokes!"

"How're my weapons? Is Dega taking care of them for me?" Kiro's brother asked.

"Like they were his own! He loves them! Oh, and Tigress says hi," Kiro replied, patting Sato on the shoulder.

After a while of talking, Kiro was finally reunited with his parents, not Jow and his real mom, but the people who had raised him when he was younger and who had died in a house fire.

There was one more person left to say hello.

"Hello, Master Kiro," Sin said, walking up to the master. "It's nice to see you again."

**There it is! That's the end of the chapter! Hope you all enjoyed!**

**I have a box of tissues with me if anyone needs it!**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	4. Beginning the Search

**Hello everyone! Welcome to another chapter of the finale! For those who've stayed with me for this far, thanks! I know ever since the last series had ended and I started a whole OC branch one, there haven't been as many views, so I just wanted to say thanks for sticking with me! You guys are the true fans, and I love that!**

**Enjoy…**

"What's he doing here?" Kiro asked, turning to face the others. "He bad! You bad!"

"I didn't want to join Overlord and his gang, but he threatened to kill Kai if I didn't. I became his banker; his money launderer, and when he killed Kai, I was already in too deep. He'd trapped me," Sin explained. "I really didn't want to."

"Alright, so where's Kai? We got along alright, so I wanna say hi to him!" The white tiger exclaimed.

"I haven't seen Kai. He might be lost somewhere in this realm. It is never ending, after all," Sin replied.

Kiro turned, wide eyed, to face his friends. "It is?"

The group nodded, and Kiro proceeded to swim through the clouds for a while, not caring where he was going. He performed various styles and began to laugh wildly.

"AWESOME!" The tiger master shouted. "BEING DEAD ROCKS! JOIN ME, LOS! JOIN ME, SATO!"

The brother of Kiro and the bobcat laughed and began to swim after their comrade, fading into the white light and clouds.

"Boys," Sashi groaned.

"Tell me about it," Song added.

* * *

*With Tang, Takami, and Max, in the real world, the next day*

With the funeral arrangements for Kiro made in a couple of days, the three leaders of their small, separate teams met up in the kitchen to discuss their strategy.

"So, what's our plan?" Max asked. "I mean, we found out from Po a while back that Overlord is the stepson of Sage, so what can we do with that? Also, they probably moved locations again since Dega, Zona, and I intruded to save Catherine's family, so looking there would be fruitless."

"Overlord is no fool. He knows what our next move will be even before we think of it. We need to figure out a way to reach back into their past somehow," Takami added.

Tang sat in silence for a minute, thinking of their next move.

"We need to go to the Royal City," The panda finally concluded. "We need to find out more information on Sage, and who he was related to. I'm sure they have files on him there."

"Sounds like a plan. I'm sure we'll be able to get there in about three days. I'll take Musaki and Summer with me," Max said.

"Right, and I'll bring Faith, Skyler, Hope, Kiba, and Kidd. It'd be good to get him out of the palace for a while," Takami stated. "What about the others? It's not like they'll just sit this out."

"Well, the masters are planning funeral arrangements, so they'll be preoccupied for a while. Time to bend some rules," The young panda grinned. "We'll need someone to investigate the scenes where people we knew were killed for any hints or clues we missed, so the others can do that. Kaizer will have to, uh, rough up some known criminals for any leads on Overlord. With such secrecy, he has to have assets, right?"

"You know that the masters would never agree to Kaizer doing that. They're too old school," Max pointed out.

"Which is why Tang is suggesting that we keep these acts quiet. Did I get that right?" Takami asked.

"Spot on," Tang replied, tapping his nose.

Max looked at the two students, then nodded. "We don't know who could be next. I don't wanna take the risk of losing Arizona or Saki. I'm in."

"Alright. Let's round up the others and let them in on this," The fire wielder stated, walking out of the kitchen.

* * *

*With Tang, Max, Takami, Skyler, Kiba, Kidd, Faith, Hope, Musaki, Summer, and Dega, three days later, in the Royal City*

After explaining to their masters that they were "still in a lot of grieving" and need to "meditate in the mountains for a little while," the group of heroes set off for the Royal City in some rocket carts that Dega summoned up. Stopping only for food, sleep, water, and bathroom breaks, the heroes made it to the city in about two and a half days.

Dega began to bring the carts down in for landing, but overshot his target and the group smashed into the roof of the Royal Palace. The heroes started to roll down the sides, making tiles chip and fall off the roof. Eventually, after hitting some lower roofs on their way down, the heroes landed in the main courtyard with a thud. Royal guards immediately surrounded them, but were ordered to stand down when a laughing rhino came out from behind the crowd of soldiers.

"I thought I'd never see something like that again!" The general laughed. "The last time that happened was over thirty-five years ago when a white tiger did the same thing! Kino? Kani? Something like that!"

Dega smiled a little. "That was my dad."

The rhino roared with laughter again. "Makes sense! Hahahaha! Yes, I remember you all! Come in!"

* * *

*Ten minutes later*

"So, what can I help you all with?" The general asked, sitting down before the students. "I'm used to seeing at least one master with you all, but I guess they have their own worries. How would I know? I'm not a Kung-Fu legend!"

"We're actually here to look up some information on an old villain," Tang stated. "My dad, the Dragon Warrior, killed him. Sage, was his name."

"Oh yes, I remember Sage. Almost took over this palace until the Dragon Warrior, the Furious Five, and the Ladies of the Shade fought him off along with every remaining student in China. Beat the Wu sisters too. Sage actually took over the Kung-Fu headquarters briefly, until the students and all took it back," The rhino recalled. "Beat all of the masters is what I was told. My, I've seen some crazy battles in my day. That one was one of them. Another was when we had to fend off all of these Japanese tigers in the Valley of Peace. They wanted to destroy China. Crazy Emperor Jow; he's dead though."

"Hm, do you know if Sage had any relatives? A father or a brother?" Faith asked.

"Oh, I don't know that! If you wanted details on battles, then I'm your guy, but any other info, I'm useless," The general said, smiling. "You'd have to go to the archives for that stuff. I'll have someone escort you all over there. CHAO! REPORT!"

After a minute, a very handsome and muscular tiger jogged up to the general. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, escort these folks to the archives. They need to do a little research," The rhino explained. "Kids, Chao is the leader of team 59 of the Emperor's bodyguards. He reports directly to the Emperor himself. You're in safe hands with him."

Even though the students could handle themselves, they nodded and smiled, accepting the generals offer.

As the team of heroes walked down the hall, Faith and Skyler remained very close to Chao, asking him all sorts of questions.

"A team leader? Wow. So who's on your team?" Skyler asked in a small voice.

Behind them, the boys looked at each other, either with confused faces or trying not to laugh.

"I'm in a team of three. There's myself, then Drift, a hyena, and then there's Specter, a white monkey. We've been on some pretty hectic missions in the past," The tiger guard explained. "But recently, our team has had a falling out. There's a traitor in our group; someone who wants to kill the Emperor. No one trusts each other in our team anymore. I just hope it's not Drift. He's my best friend."

"A traitor?" Kidd asked, perking up slightly. "Do you know if they work for anyone?"

Chao darted his eyes behind him, then turned back and kept walking. "Not that I'm aware of. You'd have to ask the Emperor on that one. He's handling the whole investigation. We're nearing the archives."

* * *

*With Kaizer, ten minutes later, in the slums of the Valley of Peace*

The Avenger of Peace walked through the streets of the darkened village area, keeping his black katana close to him. Kaizer's first stop was at the black market. If anyone sold Overlord anything, it'd more than likely be there. Not many small time criminals in China didn't want to make a profit out of material they made.

As he walked through the black market area, whispers began to fill the air as the merchants recognized him as a Jade Palace student. Students of these sorts could go for a lot when it came to slave labor, but people recognized who he was, and no one was stupid enough to attempt to capture him.

As Kaizer made his way through the market, he caught a glimpse of a seller quickly stuffing vials into his bag. One vial had a symbol of two intertwined snakes on it. It was the same symbol of Overlord.

_Bingo,_ The white tiger thought, walking up to the stand.

"Sorry, b-but we're closed," The shopkeeper stammered, continuing to show items into his bag.

"Uh huh. What do ya sell here?" Kaizer asked, leaning against the stand.

"J-j-just t-tattoos. That's all. I pour a couple of drops on ya from one of the vials, and the tattoo on the container is now on you," The merchant explained.

"I see. And, uh, what was that snake one you had there?"

"One of my most popular. People buy whole boxes of these vials. They ship it all across China!" The shopkeeper said proudly. "Would you, uh, like one?"

"No thanks. However, I would like some names of your buyers."

"I don't take names. I can give you a description of my most popular buyer, though."

Kaizer studied the merchant closely. He could tell that he was not a direct member of Overlord's gang, but actually unknowingly affiliated. Anyone who bore that tattoo was a member; it was some sort of inauguration.

"Give it to me," The white tiger finally said.

"He's, uh, tall and blackish blue. He has some markings on his face and looks to be a jaguar, though I've never been quite sure due to the hood over his face. He's a big spender and is a bit odd. Once he buys the boxes, he places them on the ground and then a portal opens up and swallows the crates! I don't ask too many questions, but he wouldn't tell me how he did that when I asked."

_Sounds like this Jaguar X guy is the errand boy for these shipments,_ Kaizer thought.

"I'm not going to arrest you, so keep your shop open. Tell no one I was here. You may play a role in helping me take down a villain," The student stated abruptly, walking off.

_All across China? This is even bigger than we thought. This isn't just in the Valley of Peace; this is throughout the country,_ Kaizer thought.

After Kaizer was gone, Jaguar X stepped out of the shadows and looked at the shopkeeper.

"Pack up your things. Move to Ban Shi city. You should be safe from further investigation there. We will continue to buy from you, but if you're arrested, there is nothing we can do for you," X said gravely. "I suggest you move."

"Absolutely! I wouldn't want your boss on my back for messing up! I'll be gone by tomorrow," The merchant replied, continuing to pack up.

**There it is! Who can be trusted in this story?**

**Remember to leave a review! Don't forget!**

**More to come…**


	5. Sabatoge

**Hey everyone! Just got back from watching an awesome movie and felt like writing another chapter! Hope you guys like it!**

**Here it is…**

*With Jaguar X*

As the jaguar walked away from the black market, a sudden strike of uneasiness hit him like a wall. He still could not see into the future, like he had been able to in the past, which meant that he could not see what was in store for him, or anyone else for that matter. He was in the dark, and although darkness was his friend, in this case, it was his weakness.

_Why are the spirits of others clouding my vision? I have done nothing to upset the higher powers,_ The jaguar thought. _Please, give me my sight back._

As X walked down the dark alley way, his cat-like instincts alerted him that he could very well be being watched right now. X turned and slowly scanned the area, but found nothing. Still wary, the cat started to turn around to go back, but was met with a swift punch to the jaw by his assailant.

* * *

*With Kaizer, five minutes earlier*

After the student had left the black market, he quickly climbed up the side of one building and hid in the shadows on the roof. He wanted to see if the trick he pulled actually worked. As soon as he left the market, he enhanced his feline hearing and was able to pick up the voices of the merchant and another man, who he assumed worked for Overlord.

As Kaizer waited, he noticed a blue and black jaguar, who fit the description that the merchant gave, walking down the alley briskly.

_Jaguar, huh? Must be Jaguar X…_

The white tiger slowly withdrew his black katana and waited to strike, but ducked down for cover when X turned and started to scan the area. Creeping across the rooftop, Kaizer made his way past the villain and quickly leaped down in front of X without making a sound. As the jaguar turned to continue walking, the Jade Palace student sent a stinging left hook to the villain's jaw.

Jaguar X stumbled back and glared at Kaizer with pure hatred. "You…How did you know?"

"You think you're menacing? You think you can strike fear into others with your fury?" Kaizer growled. "You haven't met me."

X roared his jaguar roar and rushed towards Kaizer at full speed, extending his claws. As X swiped at the student, Kaizer swiftly blocked every attempt with his sword as he slowly backed away. X tried to kick the white tiger's feet out from under him, but Kaizer front flipped over the villain and slashed at X with his katana. The jaguar ducked an attack at his head, hit Kaizer's arm that held his sword away from him, picked up the student, and threw him into a building wall, cracking the stone.

"Pathetic…" X muttered.

Fire burned in the Jade Palace student's eyes and blood. The student sniffed back a nose bleed and stood up to face the villain once more. His hands began to engulf in black flames as well as his katana.

"Yes," Kaizer said, grinning a little. "You are."

Not fighting the nose bleed anymore, the red liquid slowly started to trickle from his snout and ran down his lip, making Kaizer seem that much ferocious.

"There are two ways this ends; you dead or me taking you back to the Jade Palace," The white tiger continued.

"I would teleport out of here, but who am I to turn down an easy fight?" Jaguar X taunted, getting into his fighting stance. "That white coat will be red by the time I'm through with you."

The student smiled, showing his sharp and white teeth before rushing the villain again.

* * *

*With Arizona, Sierra, Kovu, and Ryo, a half hour earlier, by the destroyed hospital*

The group was assigned to look for any possible clues in the area where Mr. Ping was murdered. The old wreckage of the hospital was still there, since no one was quite motivated to pick the rubble up. It was an eyesore for the valley indeed.

After a little while of digging through the wreckage, Arizona was able to come up with an interesting clue.

"Guys!" Zona called. "I found something!"

"What is it? Something that could lead us to Overlord?" Sierra asked, walking up to her boyfriend.

"I'm not sure…" He replied, holding the item into the light. "I've never seen anything like it…"

"Here. Toss it over," Ryo stated, holding out his hands.

Once the student had the odd scrap of material, he instantly knew what it was.

"This is a time-table bomb. Quite new, actually. What we have here is a scrap of what was used to hold the timer to the bomb. Once the timer hit the mark, it would jolt slightly or spark a little, and the bomb would detonate," Ryo explained. "These can only be manufactured, since they're so new and hard to come by, in Gongmen City. See the old peacock marking on the other side of this scrap?"

"Gongmen? Looks like we're heading out on a little trip," Kovu said, standing back up from the rubble. "It doesn't look like anything else is here aside from half of the snake marking. We should report our findings with the others."

* * *

*With Zan, Lupa, and Lily, by Sin and Kai's farm, five minutes earlier*

"I hope Dega's alright…" Lily sighed, slithering around the old tool shed, looking for hints. "I'm worried about him."

Lupa sniffled. "Yeah, but I'm sure he'll be fine. He's stronger than I was in that instance after all. He didn't even shed a tear."

"Not crying doesn't make one strong, Lupa," Zan stated, looking under some old rags and tools. "That just means that he is not prone to being sad as easy as some. His emotions are out of sorts."

The heroes continued to look under different tools and farming equipment when Zan came across an unusual item in the shed.

"Hey guys! I think I found something!" The avian called. "It looks to be…orange paint?"

"Orange paint?" Lupa repeated, walking over to where the bird was along with Lily. "Nothing in this room has even a tinge of orange in it. Why would the Fox brothers need orange paint in here?"

"They wouldn't, unless they didn't originally have it. Maybe one of Overlord's men forgot to take this with them," Lily theorized. "Should we take it with us?"

"I mean, it couldn't hurt. After all, it is a clue that'll help us figure out Overlord's identity," The female tiger lion rationalized. "You two keep searching. I'll take this over to Zona and the others."

Once the daughter of Kiro had reached the door, she began to push it open when she realized a string that wasn't there before, reaching across the tiny gap in the doorway.

"Lily! Can you come here?" Lupa called, and the snake slithered over to her friend.

"You called?"

"Yeah, can you slither outside and see what's up with this string? It wasn't there before. It looks like someone put it here while we were inside."

The student made her way through the small opening in the door, looked up at the tiny piece of rope, and gasped.

"Don't…move…the door," Lily ordered.

"Why? What's wrong?" The female tiger lion asked.

"The string is attached to…a bomb…"

"What? A bomb? Is there any way to disarm it?" Lupa hissed. "There're no windows in here to climb out of, ya know!"

"I…might be able to shut it down by working my tail through the mechanisms, but it's dangerous and I'm not sure if that'd work."

"We can't get the other masters. They'd freak and we'd be stuck doing harsh training for the next month," The sister of Dega muttered. "Alright, I'll stand back while you do your thing. Just be careful!"

The snake nodded, slowly inserted her tail into a tiny hole in the trigger mechanism of the bomb, and went to work.

* * *

*With Max, Tang, Takami, and the others, real time, in the archives*

"Alright, we're here," Chao said, entering the archives with the students behind him. "Palace rules say I have to stay here and make sure you all don't mess up anything, but I doubt that'd be the case. Anyway, though, I have to stand here."

_That's not a palace rule…_ Tang thought, but one look at Skyler and Faith hanging around him made him understand why he was staying around now.

After around twenty minutes of searching, Hope was able to come up with an interesting document.

"Hey guys! Check this out!" The young student exclaimed. "It looks like the marriage documents for Sage and his new wife! She had three kids! The names aren't listed though…"

Chao's eyes flashed in the direction of Hope. "Sage? What're you guys doing? Something for a school project? Sage has been dead for years."

"We've recently been attacked multiple times by someone who claims that he's Sage's stepson. We're trying to figure out who it is so we can stop the attacks. We've already lost a lot of our friends…" Kiba explained. "Sage is full of rage, but don't be fooled, 'cause he's no mage as I read from this page!"

"What're you doing?" Max chuckled turning to the wolf dog.

"I'm rhyming words! It'll be the next big thing someday!" Kiba cheered. "Tang brings the pain 'cause he's the yin and yang who doesn't use any of the old Chinese slang!"

In the back of the room, the others could hear Dega start to provide a beat for his rhyming friend, and the group of heroes started to laugh.

"Huh, you think that this guy might have something to do with the traitor in my team?" Chao asked. "I mean, if he's avenging his stepfather, then he might be trying to pick up where Sage's legacy ended. He might be trying to take over China again."

Tang, Max, and Takami eyed the tiger guard at this comment.

"I mean, it makes sense, right? Revenge?" Chao added.

After searching a little bit more, Summer was able to come up with another fact.

"I found something of what looks to be the location of where Sage's second wife, the one who had the three kids, is," The female panda exclaimed. "She's in a…mental confinement. Says here she lost her mind when all of her kids died as well as her husband."

"We can see if we can pull information out of her," Musaki suggested. "It might be the closest thing to a lead we'll get here."

* * *

*With Chao, ten minutes later*

After the tiger guard had let the students of the Jade Palace say goodbye to the general, Chao had led them out of the palace and sent them on their way.

"Guard!" Chao called after the students were gone, and a rhino jogged up to him.

"Yes, Chao?" The rhino asked.

"The Overlord cometh?" The leader of team 59 questioned, and the guard nodded.

This was the secret greeting between members of Overlord's gang. Anyone who greeted someone with this was asking if they were a member.

"The Overlord cometh. So, you're the traitor everyone's been talking about, huh? A little surprised. You seemed like a straight arrow. Anyway, did those kids find out anything?"

"First off, looks can be deceiving. I'm in this for two reasons: not to be killed, and money. Second, those kids only managed to find what I had left for them. The important documents on our boss are hidden. Let him know, though, that the Jade Palace warriors are getting closer to finding out the truth," Chao explained.

"Right. Will do. Anything else?"

"Yes, do you know how many of us are in the palace?"

"Around…" The guard thought. "Half of the guards and soldiers are with us? You just got unlucky is all. They stumbled onto your trail somehow."

"Yes…somehow. That is all," Chao finished, waving the guard away.

**Anyone think they know who Overlord is? Kinda hard to tell, since I only dropped one clue in this chapter, but fear not! More hints are on the way! And we can now see just how vast Overlord's influence reaches…**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	6. Shards of Clues

**Hello everyone! Here's another chapter of the story!**

**Just a little note for you all, since this story is mainly about finding out who Overlord is, it'll be a little more mysterious and puzzling than action and violent. It'll also be a little bit shorter than usual. Instead of around 20 chapters, it'll be more like 15. Don't worry, the second part of the finale (the next story) will be longer and will have more action.**

**Also, Ninjatiger, I'd like to hear your guess on who Overlord is in the reviews section.**

**Enjoy…**

*With Kaizer*

Jaguar X was kicked back against the brick wall and ducked when a black katana clanked against the spot where he had been. The villain was covered in cuts and bruises, and his lip had been fattened by the first punch Kaizer threw.

The white tiger was the same way, except he walked with a little bit of a limp from where X had slashed his knee with his claws, and a long claw mark that went from the top right of Kaizer's face to the bottom left.

"You fight well, Jade Palace student; better than what I thought you would," X panted. "What do you say we call this a draw?"

Kaizer slammed the tip of his flaming black sword into the ground, creating a burning black line in the ground, moving towards the jaguar. The pawn of Overlord flipped to the right and scaled the wall to the rooftops.

"I guess that's a 'no.' Oh well, we'll meet again," X stated before summoning a portal and walking into it.

The rift closed behind the villain, leaving a wounded and exhausted student.

"I need a vacation or some crud like that," Kaizer muttered, walking out of the alley. "I heard Japan is nice this time of year. Oh well, on to the next destination."

The white tiger student sauntered off to the old fighting club where Sin used to fight at. That was where all of the gruff criminals hung out. Kaizer patted one of Kidd's pistols that was strapped at his side. If he was going into a whole building of criminals, especially in this condition, he would need a little more weaponry than normal.

"Surprising how many skeletons come outa the closet when someone dies. Who knew Sin was a street fighter for hire?" Kaizer muttered to himself.

* * *

*With Overlord, two minutes earlier*

The head villain turned to see a beaten and battered Jaguar X walk through the portal that opened at the other end of the room.

"He knows about the tattoos. I made sure that the merchant will be out of the valley by tomorrow morning, but I encountered one of the students, Kaizer, on my way back. I thought I could handle him…but we're equal in strength and skill," X sighed.

"How unfortunate. You should rest," Overlord said calmly. "Rest, after you teleport Xin to the Royal City. I want to make sure that the students there haven't dug anything up prematurely. Also, take a look at the wreckage of where Sin's old farm house used to be. The shed should be destroyed by now."

X nodded and walked off to his room to bandage his wounds.

"I will only reveal myself to one…" The villain whispered. "Tang Ping."

* * *

*With Lily, Lupa, and Zan, ten minutes earlier*

"Almost done…" The daughter of Viper said, concentration seeping from her voice. "A little more…"

"You can stop now. I've figured out how to blow a hole in the wall with my father's staffs," Lupa stated, walking out from behind the shack. "Pull out your tail. Let me see something."

Lily gawked and did as she was told. The female tiger lion stuck out the staffs and thought of one encasing the bomb will the other formed a knife to cut the string, controlling the explosion. When she opened her eyes, that was what was happening. The bomb went off after the string was cut, but the aura of red around the bomb itself controlled the explosion, only blowing a hole in the door.

"You're getting the hang of it, it seems," Zan said, holding the can of orange paint. "So all you have to do is think of it, and the staffs obey?"

"Seems so. Let me try another thing…" Lupa replied.

She concentrated again, and before she knew it, a rocket cart appeared before the three heroes.

"That's pretty cool. Just like Dega's!" Lily exclaimed, slithering into the cart.

"Is it safe?" The avian asked nervously.

"Come on, Zan! Live a little!" Lupa chuckled. "You're not scared, are you?"

"Pff!" Zan laughed. "Scared? A little…I mean, no!"

Once the three were in the cart, Lily wrapped her tail around the rope that was attached to the fuses.

"PULL THE STRING!" She exclaimed before yanking the rope and sparking the rockets to life.

The heroes screamed, Lupa and Zan in fear and Lily in joy, as they shot over the valley at a high speed towards the Jade Palace.

"Look! Down below! It's Zona and the others!" The snake cheered.

* * *

*With Arizona and the others*

"Hey, is that…Lily, Lupa, and Zan?" Sierra asked, shielding her eyes from the sun and looking up in the sky.

"Has to be! We don't know any other avians, snakes, or tiger lions our age that are in the valley right now," Zona replied.

"Why are bombs from Gongmen showing up in the Valley of Piece?" Kovu asked Ryo, walking alongside his friend and preoccupied in their own discussion. "They don't have any known ties to explosives since Shen died many years ago."

"I have a feeling that the whole city isn't making these, or even a large group, but some select individuals that work for Overlord," Ryo replied. "We can't be sure of that, though. That's why we have to go there."

* * *

*With Kaizer, midnight*

The white tiger student threw another criminal across the room, slamming him into a wall and falling to the ground with his friends, unconscious. Everyone in the room was either unconscious or dead, except for one. Kaizer walked over to a nervous monkey, Gu, and pointed the pistol at him.

"You were Sin's bookie, but now he's dead. You moved on to another client like that," The white tiger snarled, snapping his fingers once. "You have a black book with all of your past client's names and information, don't you?"

The monkey nodded frantically. "Yes, I do! For the record, Sin was a good friend of mine! We were in business for a long time!"

"Don't try to sell me that. Give the book, or I put a hole in your head."

Gu fished out a tiny pocket book and handed it over to Kaizer, his hands shaking frantically.

"Thanks…" Kaizer muttered before firing a shot into the monkey's leg, crippling the bookie. "I've alerted the Imperial Guard of this place. They should be here in a few minutes to arrest you all. You're done."

The student walked out of the building and flipped through the book until he found Sin's name. It read:

Name: Sin Fox

Related to: Kai Fox

Age: 28

Abilities: Excellent fighter. Be sure to keep this one around for a while. Pile in the profits!

Address: 58 Beng-shin Trail (moved), 14 Tira Pathway (moved), Room 42 in the Nik-Ti Apartments (moved), the old shack on the edge of the valley, north side.

"Why would Sin lie to us about his age? He told us he was nineteen! And why did he change locations so many times before settling in on one? The spots where he stayed are all over China!" Kaizer muttered. "I gotta share what I've found with the others."

* * *

*The next day*

"So, Sin lied to us about his age and moved all over China?" Zan asked. "Why would he do that?"

Kaizer shook his head. "Sounds like he was running from something. I don't know what. I also found that the tattoos we see on Overlord's henchmen and the symbol we keep seeing? The tattoos of those are shipped all across China. He has men everywhere. The tattoo dealer is moving to Ban Shi City, and I've sent a message to the guards their alerting them about him. He should be picked up before he even enters the city."

"We found paint in the area Kai was murdered. Orange paint, but nothing in there was orange," Lupa added. "That's all we found there before escaping. Someone placed a bomb on the door, hoping to blow us up. We took care of it, though."

"We found out that the bomb used to kill Mr. Ping was manufactured in Gongmen City. We're planning on going there as soon as possible," Zona stated. "We'll go by boat while you guys head off to the Royal City to warn the others that Overlord's influence doesn't stay in the Valley of Peace."

Lupa, Zan, Lily, and Kaizer nodded in response before departing.

* * *

*With Dega, a half hour later, at the mental institute*

After stating who they were when the heroes arrived at the hospital, Tang requested for them to see Sage's second wife, and the nurse complied. As the students walked down the halls, following the hospital worker, they became uneasy at the sounds of sudden laughter, shouting, and banging coming from some of the rooms.

"Jíjiāng dàolái de fēngbào! Yīqiè dōu jiāng dào xià!" One patient called, rattling the bars of his cell.

"'The coming storm? All will fall?' What could he mean by that?" Hope asked nervously, picking up his pace a little.

"He's insane. Don't worry about it," Faith replied, shrugging off the comment. "They probably yell that kind of stuff all the time."

After a few more minutes of walking the nurse found the room and left the heroes there.

As the heroes entered the room, a voice from the cell next to Sage's wife's beckoned to one student.

"Hey!" An ox called, peering through the bars. "You! Tiger lion!"

"Me?" Dega asked, looking around.

"Yes! Yes! Come here! This ox wants to ask you something!" The patient replied, and Dega slowly walked over to the cell while his friends entered. "Heh. Read the name there!"

Dega looked over at the name slot on the cell and his eyes widened a little. "Temutai. You used to be one of China's most dangerous criminals."

"Yes! Oh, those days. They send shivers down Temutai's spine!" The ox laughed slightly. "Yes, laugh a lot and try to strangle your inmate in a fight and off to the mental asylum for ya! Where's the Dragon Warrior?"

"Uh, he's back at the Jade Palace. Why?"

"Oh, Temutai hasn't seen the panda in years! Not since he threw us criminals back in jail after we helped him beat the Japanese invasion in fact!" Temutai sighed. "Those were the days…"

"You wanted to ask me something?" Dega asked, growing impatient.

"Well, two things actually. Heh heh. First, you are the son of that white tiger master, right? Kiro? How's he? Temutai hasn't seen him since he kidnapped him for Grandmaster Feng, years ago."

"He's…dead. Murdered, actually. We're trying to find out who the killer is; they've been targeting us and everyone we cared about," The student replied.

"Oh! That was a tactic Temutai should've used back in his fighting days!" The ox groaned. "Temutai is sorry to hear about your father. Uh, the second question is, what are you all doing here? People don't visit us 'crazy people' much."

"Like I said, we're trying to find out who the killer is. We know that he is the stepson of Sage, the guy who tried to take over China once. We're meeting with Sage's second wife to find out who her kids were," The tiger lion explained, leaning against the wall.

"Oh. Understood. There was a hooded man who came by earlier today. Portal opened in the wall over there and he walked through and into that room. Came back out a little later and walked back through the portal," Temutai recalled. "Heard something about 'mother' and 'China,' but Temutai doesn't recall anything else."

Dega sucked in his breath sharply. "Did you happen to hear a name, or maybe see what species this guy was?"

"Yes! Both of those things, actually! But if Temutai were to give them to you, he would never get out of here and have a normal life," The ex-criminal sighed. "Maybe a trade can happen? Freedom for your killer's name?"

Just then, the heroes exited the Sage's second wife's room.

"She's dead," Tang sighed. "Somebody poisoned her. We searched the room for clues, but only could find that stupid snake symbol above her bed."

"There's nothing for us here. We should go back to the Royal Palace and see what we can dig up," Max stated as the heroes walked off. "Come on, buddy-bro."

Before he left, Dega turned to face the hopeful patient with his answer.

"I'll see what I can do."

**There it is! Do you really think that Temutai knows who Overlord is? Maybe…**

**Leave a review with your thoughts! Remember, Ninjatiger, I want to hear your guess.**

**More to come…**


	7. False Prophet

**Hey everyone! Sorry I've been away for a little while. I know you guys wanna know who the other four are that die and who Overlord really is, so I won't hold out on you all! **

**By the way, anyone recognizing some little add-ins from my past series? Ban Shi City from my first story, Temutai and Grandmaster Feng's potion from my second story, and the general of China's army rambling about the battle with Japan and Emperor Jow from the finale of the past series? **

**A shocking revelation occurs in this chapter. See if you can figure it out…**

**(Note: If you have read some of the bios on my characters, and they don't quite match up with Overlord's bio, that's because I haven't explained all that yet. Don't fret!)**

*Back at the royal palace, night time*

"Didn't expect to see you all back here!" Chao greeted, walking down the steps. "Need to head back to the archives? I can escort you all…"

Skyler and Faith were about to jump at the offer, but Tang and the others shut them down.

"No, we're good. We know the way back. Besides, we're not looking for anything more than a place to stay for the night," Tang replied.

"Sounds good! I'll see you all in the morning!" The tiger guard replied, continuing on his way.

After a little while, the general was finally able to get three rooms for the students to spend the night before leaving. The boys, since they were so large in number, got two rooms and the girls got their own, separate room.

"Goodnight, all," Takami sighed, walking into his room.

"Goodnight, Hope!" Faith cheered, waving energetically.

"Uh, G'night?" Hope replied awkwardly, waving slightly before following Takami.

"I get top bunk!" Kiba exclaimed, running into the bedroom. "Dega, you're stuck with the bottom one!"

"As long as you don't have your night gas again, I'm fine with it," Dega retorted, smiling. "That's bad enough to wipe out China's army."

Kiba poked his head out of the room once more. "Ouch. That hurts, bro. I think I might hafta teach you a lesson…with some gas."

"You do, and I'll murder you without a second thought," The tiger lion replied, laughing.

"Goodnight, Zona," Sierra whispered, kissing him and then walking back to the girls' room.

"Uuuuuuhhhhhh," The grey wolf sputtered as he was dragged in to the boys' room by Tang.

After the others said their farewells, the climbed in to their beds and shut out the flames that illuminated the rooms.

* * *

*With the girls, midnight*

The three ladies lay wide awake as the snoring that came from the guys' rooms shook the halls. They had fallen asleep a little while ago, but as soon as they did, the snoring started, and the girls couldn't sleep a wink.

"Psst! Faith!" Sierra hissed.

"You don't have to whisper. That snoring could wake the dead," Skyler muttered, a pillow over her head.

Faith imagined Kiro and Monkey shooting up out of the ground and complaining about the ruckus. The thought made her laugh slightly, as she knew that if the masters were here, the boys would be forced to be quiet.

"What?" Faith replied. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Don't make me laugh," Skyler mumbled again, tossing and turning. "I'm not in the laughing mood."

"What about gossiping?" Sierra brought up, and Skyler sat up in reluctance.

"Well, although I'm not much for gossip, I do find it as a nice thought to pass the time. What do ya got?" The yellow fox asked.

"Well, I was thinking we should talk about Hope…" Sierra giggled, twiddling her thumbs.

"Wha-what about Hope?" The cheetah asked, becoming slightly flustered.

"Oh, come one! The boys may be as dumb as dirt when it comes to this, but every girl in the palace knows you have a crush on him," Skyler groaned. "When are you gonna make your move?"

"I don't like him more than a friend!" Faith defended.

"Denial!" Sierra giggled. "You're really bad at lying."

Faith sighed. "So what if I do? That doesn't change anything about me or him or any of you for that matter."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong! The boys may be desperate and dateless, but Sierra has Arizona, Dega has Lily, I have Ryo, Musaki had Summer, Lupa's just weird when it comes to this stuff, and you have…no one. No one, that is, except for Hope," Skyler countered. "Kovu? Too young. Takami, Kidduo, and Tang? Too serious. Kiba? Too silly. Zan? Too artsy. Kaizer? Too deadly. Really, the only other one is Max, but I don't think he's interested."

"What makes you think Hope is interested?" The cheetah asked, her attention now grasped.

"A guess…" The yellow fox replied, examining her nails.

"Don't think that you'll be able to talk your way out of this," Sierra remarked, waving a finger. "We're gonna get you two together, whether you like it or not, but you'll obviously like it."

"Go on, wake him up and hang out on the royal palace balcony on the third floor. As long as you don't get caught by the guards, you should be fine," Skyler added, picking her teeth.

Faith looked helplessly at her two friends and sighed. "Fine…If this doesn't go well, though, you two are to blame."

* * *

*With Chao, two hours earlier, in the city*

The tiger guard walked through the city at a quick pace. Soon, he came face to face with a hooded figure, which stood in the middle of the street.

"The Overlord cometh?" Chao called out, and the hooded figure lowered their cloak, revealing Xin.

"The Overlord cometh, indeed, Chao," The snow leopard replied, grinning evilly. "I've been teleported here by X on Overlord's orders. We understand you're in quite a predicament."

"Nothing I can't handle," The tiger scoffed. "Is the price that I discussed with your boss for my services still the same?"

Xin nodded once. "Not to worry, Chao. We'll be sure to get your money to you and get you out of the country once his is all over. In the meantime, Overlord wants to know what information they have gathered on him."

"Only that his mother is dead and that he's related to Sage," Chao reported. "I've hid the other documents that reveal his identity. By the way, have you ever seen his face?"

"Who? Overlord's face?"

"Yes, that's who I'm referring to."

"No. He won't show it to anyone. Not even his most trusted associates," Xin sighed, shaking his head. "That, and his voice is so muffled that no one can make out what his voice really is."

"I see. Well, if that's all you came for, just a talk, I need sleep and I suggest that you head on back," Chao stated, crossing his arms. "I do have better things to do than talk with you."

"Likewise," The snow leopard muttered. "However, I have to wait for Jaguar X to open the portal again before I can go. I just hope he doesn't forget like last time…"

The tiger guard nodded and turned to walk back to the royal palace. As he was walking, he recalled Xin's statement of how no one knew Overlord's true voice or his identity, let alone species.

_Perfect. Even they don't know the truth…_

* * *

*With Faith, present time*

The cheetah slid open the door to the boys' room, and the sound of snoring almost defended her. She crept over to Hope and lightly shook him. After a few moans and coughs, the bear sat up and looked at his friend.

"Morning already?" The student yawned. "Wow. That went fast."

"It's not morning! Come on! I'd like to hang out up on the balcony on the third floor!" Faith whispered.

A loud cough made the two jump and look towards the source. Dega was coughing and hacking so hard, Faith thought his lungs might come out.

"Mmmm. Bro, I said no night gas…" The tiger lion muttered sleepily, rolling over on his side.

"Deal with it…bro…" Kiba mumbled. "It comes with…the turf…"

"We better go before Kiba's flatulence kills us all," Hope chuckled getting up and slowly making his way towards the door with Faith.

* * *

*Ten minutes later*

The two students sat on the balcony above, looking out over the city that was cloaked in darkness. They had been able to sneak past all of the guards and sit on the ledge of the balcony without being spotted.

"So, what'd you wanna talk to me about?" Hope asked turning to Faith.

The moon made her fur glisten in the light, and her eyes shone as bright as the sun. She sighed and rubbed the top of her head, massaging the hair on top of her head.

"Hope, where do you think this friendship is going?" The cheetah asked.

The bear cocked his head to the left at the question. "Uh, towards best friendship?"

"I mean, like, how do you feel about us being friends?" Faith reworded.

"Um…Fine? I think we're really tight."

The cheetah sighed and shook her head. She obviously wasn't going anywhere with this.

"Hope, do you love me?" She finally asked.

The bear almost lost his grip and fell off the edge of the balcony. He steadied himself and adjusted his position on the wooden rail.

"Is…uh…uh…Is it…that obvious?" The lion asked, painfully.

Now it was Faith's turn to almost fall off the balcony.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, the guys almost always tease me about it. But not when the girls are around. They're not THAT bad. I figured you didn't know," Hope explained. "This doesn't change our friendship, does it?"

"Actually, it does," The cheetah replied.

The bear's head sank down. "Dang it…"

"Because I feel the same way," Faith added.

Hope's head shot towards Faith and his eyes widened. "You're serious? Don't tease me like that."

"I'm not, Hope. I wouldn't joke like that. I thought you of all people would know me better than that," The cheetah replied, smiling.

After a minute of awkward silence, Hope asked Faith if she wanted to date him, and he received a resounding 'yes.'

The two hugged, which turned into a little bit of a wrestling match. The two laughed and rolled around on the floor, trying to pin each other first. It wasn't until Faith received a little blow to the ribcage that they stopped.

"What happened?" The bear asked, getting up.

The two looked at the brass handle the stuck up out of the floor. The secret door had been hidden under the rug that had been moved away while they were wrestling. Faith opened up the door and took out a scroll.

"It looks like an archives paper. Why is this here? It looks like it was written back before this emperor was chosen," She questioned unraveling it and reading it. "Oh…no. Hope…?"

"What is it?" The other student asked, walking to her side and reading the bit of information. "What…?"

The scroll read:

Soldier information #472: Chao Tiga

Species: Tiger

Skills: Excellent hand-to-hand combat expert. Profound leader. Deadly with weapons of any sort.

Past: Unknown

Related to: Adopted son of He-La Fox (Previously married once) and Sage as well as _ and _ _.

*Note: Sage has defected. Provide over watch and protection for the family, in case the wolverine decides to attack them*

Ethnicity: Chinese

"Hope, we were betrayed! Chao is…Overlord," Faith whispered.

**There it is! Surprised? Well, the story isn't over yet! Hope you guys are ready for a wild ride, because I've got more twists and sick surprises in store for you all!**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	8. Closing In On the Identity

**Hello again everyone! Surprising last chapter, huh? Well, I have another surprise in store for you all!**

**Enjoy…**

*With Overlord, the next day, early morning*

"So how did your meeting with Chao go?" Overlord asked as Xin stepped through an open portal.

"He denied our assistance. Said that he could handle himself," The snow leopard replied, shaking his head. "I don't like it. He's gonna get found out sooner or later."

"Perhaps that is precisely what he wants," The figure in black said suavely. "After all, he's been in such situations in the past. You'll understand his intentions soon enough, as will I."

Overlord began to walk towards the door to his chambers, thinking of his next move.

"He's clever and knows what has to be done, as long as we keep paying him. After all, he is my adopted brother."

* * *

*With the group of heroes, at the Royal Palace*

Hope and Faith had carefully made their way back to their rooms, saying nothing to the others about what they had found until they could prove it. After an early breakfast, the two made their way to the soldier's barracks and wandered around for a little while.

"Look at this. You see how two other names of Chao's siblings are worn away? What'd you think that means?" Faith asked.

"Well," The bear replied, tapping his chin. "It could mean that he isn't Overlord after all, but it could also mean he is. Hard to tell."

"Hey, what're you guys doing out here?" The soldier asked. "I don't think you two are supposed to be in this area."

"We're looking for Chao. We have something to ask him," Hope replied, stepping forward. "It's important. Do you know where we could find him?"

"Find him? Ha! I live with the guy! Drift!" The hyena laughed, holding out his hand. "You guys look familiar…"

"We're from the Jade Palace. We train under the masters and the Dragon Warrior there," Faith added, shaking the outstretched hand.

"Haaaaaa…" Drift gawked, you mouth hanging open. "Do you think I could meet the other masters? I have posters of them all over my side of the room. Specter and Chao give me a hard time about it sometimes, but I just tell 'em to buzz off."

"Uh, we'll introduce them to you the next time they're over here," Faith responded uneasily, caught off guard by the soldier's sudden fan boy attitude. "Anyway, do you know where we could find Chao?"

"Back in our room. Second door to your right. Be careful, though. Supposedly one of us is the traitor. Hopefully it isn't him, though, because we've been best friends since I enrolled in the academy!" Drift sighed, walking off. "Bye!"

After a minute of walking, the two knocked on the door and heard someone invite them in. When they walked in, the tiger shot up out of his seat and looked at them while a white monkey lowered the paper he was reading.

"Who're you?" The monkey asked, his eyes holding a disinterested gleam.

"I know them. What're you guys doing here?" Chao asked, pushing them out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

"Explain this!" Hope demanded, pushing the scroll into the tiger's hands and letting him unravel it.

As soon as Chao saw it, he sighed sadly and pocketed the scroll. "Listen, I've had a very good life here so far. If someone found out I was related to Sage, then I'd be interrogated and tossed out of here. I've made friends and I have a better family than the one that was described on that paper. I didn't want to lose all this, so I hid it, but I am in no way connected to this."

"This makes you a prime suspect as the traitor," Faith added.

"Which I'm not. Look, unless you guys want to throw an innocent and loyal soldier in jail just because of his past, then I'm going to have to convince the Emperor otherwise," The tiger countered.

"Either way, we're giving the scroll to the Emperor," Hope stated, and he and Faith began to walk off.

As they walked down the hall, the heard a door open and shut twice, and were soon surprised when a hand holding a cloth with chloroform clamped over their mouths, making them pass out.

* * *

*With the others, noon*

"Has anyone seen Hope or Faith?" Tang asked, walking around. "We need to head back! We're already running late!"

"They said something about checking out another lead," Chao called out, walking up to the group. "Don't fret. I'll tell them that you all headed back when they return and I'll supply some guards to accompany them along the way."

Takami, Max, and Tang nodded in agreement before rounding up the others to head back. As they did, Lily, Lupa, Kaizer and Zan walked into the main room of the palace.

"Hey guys!" Dega greeted. "Looks like your journey was for naught, because we're outa here!"

Zan face palmed and sighed. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."

"Wazzup?" Kiba cheered, walking over to Lupa and giving her a fist bump. "You guys came all this way just to join us, or did you find something?"

After about twenty minutes of exchanging information, Tang copied all of the facts that they knew now onto s slip of paper and pocketed it. During the night, he had been compiling and connecting clues that they had learned of so far, and now he had more to add to the list.

Lily wrapped around Dega and gave him a big squeeze, making the air rush out of him, and he collapsed to the floor unconscious.

"Looks like I hugged him a little too hard," The snake said, smiling in embarrassment.

"Let's get going while I'm still awake," Kaizer pushed, scratching his stomach. "I don't have all day."

After loading up their supplies and the unconscious tiger lion, the group took off for home, leaving the Royal Palace behind.

* * *

*The next day, with Hope and Faith*

The two had woken up a little while before to a dark shack with no sound. They were bound to chairs and gagged, with no idea as to where they were or what was going on.

"Your friends left about a day ago," Chao stated, opening the door and walking in, lighting a candle along the way. "That means no one is coming to save you, and no one can interfere."

"Precisely, brother," A figure in black chuckled, walking in behind the tiger. "It's nice to finally see my…'comrades'…again."

"What do you mean? What's going on here?" Faith asked after spitting her gag out.

"Pffooo!" Hope spit, and the cloth in his mouth fell out as well. "Overlord. What do you mean by again?"

"Since you won't be going anywhere, I guess I can show you who I am. After all, you two are going to die here anyway," Overlord jeered.

The villain knelt down and removed his new mask that he had made, revealing his face. The two heroes widened their eyes and their mouths dropped open at his identity.

"You two are dense. All of the clues that were laid out before you and you still didn't figure it out," Overlord taunted.

"I thought you were dead…" Faith whispered. "We saw your body."

"With the resources and connections I have, finding someone who sounded like me and was the same species as me was easy. The makeup to look like me was the hard part," Overlord hissed. "I never liked any of you since the moment I learned of your existence."

**There it is! Another shocking twist! Any guesses as to who it is now? Can you figure it out? Leave your guess in the reviews!**

**More to come…**


	9. Tangled Web

**Hi again all! Welcome to another exciting chapter of the finale!**

**Note: I know in the previous chapter Arizona and Sierra were with Tang and the others before Lupa and the others arrived. I know they were supposed to go with Ryo and the others. I've fixed it in this chapter the best I could, but I deleted the previous chapter, so I can't edit that part out. Let's just pretend that didn't happen, m'kay?**

**Enjoy…**

*With Tang and the others, two days later*

As the heroes arrived back in the valley by rocket cart, they were immediately greeted by their angry masters. For some reason, before they had left, Ryo and Kovu insisted that Zona and Sierra go with Lupa, Lily, and Zan instead of going to Gongmen City with them. That's what Zona told the others, at least. However, the masters found out what their students were up to before Ryo and Kovu could leave, and the two students were detained before they could set off.

"We're all gonna die in three…two…one…" Kiba muttered.

"YOU ALL ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE!" Tigress and Mei Ling roared, storming towards the students.

"Good call, bro," Dega complimented.

"Thank you, good sir," The wolf dog replied, bowing.

"Before you get mad, let us explain," Tang stated nervously, stepping forward. "Ya see, we—"

"Really, Tang?" Po asked, walking towards his son slowly. "Really? You think you can explain your way out of this? Really, Tang? Really?"

"You provide a distraction and we'll slowly walk away towards the village," Dega whispered to the young panda.

"I heard that, mister," Mei Ling snarled.

"Mister? What am I, ten? Pff! I'm eighteen!" The tiger lion scoffed.

"Dega?" Lupa whispered, walking up to her brother.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

The tiger lion turned to see his furious aunt Tigress and his mother glaring at him, malice in their eyes.

"Welp, it looks like we should be hittin' the ol' dusty trail!" Kiba sighed, walking towards the door with Dega behind him. "You guys have fun!"

Dega put on an old Chinese hat that he bought in the royal city as he followed his friend. "Yep. Come on, Max! We gotta go work in the fields now!"

Max started to inch towards the door also, but a hiss from Viper made him stop in his tracks.

"You all aren't going anywhere," Crane ordered, stepping forward. "We still have yet to dish out your punishments."

"Would you lighten the consequences if we told you that we found out information on Overlord?" Takami asked, and the masters turned to him and waited. "I assume so."

After the leader of the Elemental Hazards had finished filling in the masters on what they had learned so far, Mantis was the first to speak.

"Where're Hope and Faith?" The bug asked, and the others shrugged.

"Back in the royal city. I heard that they were checking out a lead, and that some royal guards would escort them back here when they were done," Lily stated.

"You all left them alone there?" Viper asked, widening her eyes.

"I'm gonna go with no and see how that turns out," Summer said weakly.

"We're going to get them," Tigress stated. "Dega, I'm taking your staffs. All of us except from Po and Crane should go. You two okay with that?"

The two masters nodded rapidly, then looked at each other and grinned.

* * *

*A half hour later*

"So, Master Po, now that the others are gone, what is your punishment gonna be?" Zan asked, and then received a punch from Dega.

"Thanks for reminding him!" The tiger lion hissed, then stuck out his bottom lip.

"Well, I know I didn't always follow the rules when I was around your guys' age, so I won't make the consequences too harsh," The grandmaster sighed. "Five times up and down the steps."

Zan flew off while Lupa summoned a rocket cart and sped towards the steps.

"That's not right," Kaizer protested, but the Dragon Warrior wagged his finger in response.

"That's being creative. They can do that," Po countered.

"Not. Cool," Ryo complained, then walked towards the steps.

* * *

*With Overlord, the next day, back at the hideout*

"Your plans make no sense whatsoever," Xin stated, lounging back in a chair.

"How so? My plans are flawless and brilliant!" Overlord defended twirling a throwing star in his right hand.

"You change your mind all the time! Do this. Do that. Wait, I changed my mind. Do this instead. You're indecisive!" The snow leopard countered. "Let's be real here. Do you even have a plan?"

"You question my judgment?" The figure in black asked, slowly walking towards Xin. "I don't think that'd be a wise decision."

"You can't handle criticism either! When someone says something you don't like, you use intimidation to silence them!" Xin continued.

"Shut. Up," Jaguar X hissed, but the leopard wouldn't listen.

"I mean come on! Think it through, man!" Xin sighed. "I could run this show better than you!"

"Tread carefully. I'm finding you tedious, and people like you are expendable," The figure in black barked.

"I'm allowed to speak my mind aren't I? Or is that too harsh for you to take?" The snow leopard sneered.

Overlord growled and chucked the throwing star at Xin. A sickening thwack echoed throughout the building as the weapon collided with Xin's skull, and the leopard sank down in the chair, dead. A trail of blood began to stream down his face, and it slid down the left side of his nose and stopped at his mouth.

"He was annoying, sure, but killing him? I don't know…" X said, shaking his head. "We could've used him longer."

"Are you questioning me as well?" Overlord hissed, turning and glaring at the jaguar.

"Not at all. I'm just elaborating on the situation that could've been. Never mind," X replied, waving his hands in defeat.

"I want you to teleport the body to the front door of the Jade Palace. They should see this; they should take it as a message that I'm not specific as to who I kill to reach my goal," Overlord ordered, pulling the throwing star out of Xin's head. "I wonder how the excavation of our long lost formula is coming along."

* * *

*With Tang, a few days later*

As the students and two masters awaited the return of the others, Tang got down to business trying to figure out who Overlord was. With drawings of those connected to Overlord as well as all of the clues spread out before the panda, Tang was able to create a web of connections using string and rocks.

"Xin works for Overlord because he was promised vengeance for Tai Lung…" Tang muttered, looking at his web. "Zina works for Overlord because she was promised revenge and a new home. Jaguar X's reason is unknown. Kai, Sin, Mr. Ping, Kiro and Monkey were all murdered. Sin lied about his age and where he used to live. The tattoos for Overlord mean death and are applied via ink droplets. Recent bombs are being made from Gongmen city. An orange can of paint was also found at the scene where Kai was killed as well as a Gongmen bomb…"

_What could all this mean? I know I've figured out why Xin and Zina are working for him, but the rest just doesn't make sense! Oh! Gongmen is the largest explosives-creating city in China. They provide that weaponry for all of China's army. Cross that off the list..._

Tang took down the drawings and information of Zina and Xin, since he already knew their connections and motives. He then wrote a note about the Gongmen bombs next to the sentence 'Gongmen City bombs for Overlord' and put a check mark at the end of the sentence.

"We're so close to finding out the truth, but we're missing something. What is it?" Tang muttered studying all of the clues that lay before him.

**There it is everyone! I laid out all of the clues that the heroes have learned so far for you all to connect together!**

**Leave a review of what you thought!**

**More to come…**


	10. Unlikely Ally

**Hi all! Get ready for another chapter!**

*With Dega and Kiba, two hours later*

"I'm boooooored," The tiger lion groaned, throwing another shuriken at his bedroom wall.

"There's nothing to do!" Kiba added, balancing himself against another wall, upside down. "I need some action or something! All this mystery crud and solving stuff, but no butt kicking!"

"Wanna annoy my sister?"

"Nah. She's hot…headed. Hot headed."

"Yeah. You're right," Dega replied, getting up and pulling the throwing stars out of the wall. "I just want something to do."

"We could go beat up some bad guys. I know where we can find some!" Kiba suggested.

The two looked around the room. The hole in the wall was patched up nicely, and some old rags blocked the breeze coming through an open window. It was a shabby replacement for curtains, but it made due.

"I got a better idea. Let's go taunt Zina!" Dega exclaimed, mischief gleaming in his eyes.

"Your aunt?"

"Ugh, don't even call her that."

"Sounds good to me! Let me just tell Takami first. He's outside," The wolf stated, jogging off.

* * *

*With Kiba*

"Did I really almost slip and call Dega's sister hot? Geez, I need to keep myself in check. Zan would kill me if he found out," Kiba muttered, making his way down the hall of the barracks.

Suddenly, the young avian's door opened behind the student, and Zan poked his head out.

"Kill you if I found out what?" Zan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh…Nothing," Kiba stammered.

"You're lying…" The bird hummed, walking towards the wolf. "Tell me."

"Nah! Don't concern yourself! It's nothing! Quite nothing!"

"Is it about Lupa?"

"Wow you're a good guess—I mean no! Ha ha! No, no, no!"

"Kiba. If this is about Lupa, then you need to tell me."

"Whatever happened to being discrete about liking her?" Kiba asked, backing away.

"Kiba!"

"Gotta go! Bye!" The student cheered, running off.

* * *

*With the other students, five minutes later, in the main hall*

As the wolf ran around the corner, he accidentally slammed into Lupa, who was rounding the same corner.

"Ow! Watch it!" She barked. "Oh! Hey, Kiba! What's going on?"

"Oh, dear Buddha! This never ends does it?" Kiba whined. "Nothing! It's just that Zan—"

"KIBA! WHAT IS IT?" Zan shouted, flying down the hall after the student.

"AHH!" Kiba screamed, running off. "I WAS JUST TRYING TO TELL TAKAMI SOMETHING! LEAVE. ME. ALONE!"

"What's going on?" Skyler asked, walking up to Lupa.

"No clue," Came the reply. "Zan is chasing Kiba for some reason, demanding to tell him something."

As Kiba rounded a pillar, he accidentally slammed into the yellow fox, sending the two tumbling down the hall. When they rolled to a stop, Skyler was on top of Kiba with her lips pressed against his. The two looked at each other in shock and then pulled away, coughing and spitting. It wasn't until Kiba looked to his left that he noticed an angry Ryo.

"This isn't what it looks like," Kiba said rapidly.

Max and Kovu, who were in the far corner of the room, were laughing and gasping for air at the hilarious scene before them.

"YOU SLIMEY BACKSTABBER!" The dark wolf roared, rushing his friend.

The white wolf yelped, shoved Skyler off of him, and started to run again.

It wasn't until Kiba burst out the front doors of the palace that he tripped over something and bounced down the stairs into the courtyard.

"Hey! Kiba! Are you alright?" Takami asked, running up to his comrade.

"What the…?" Ryo muttered, suddenly focusing on the object that tripped Kiba.

It was the body of a snow leopard. It was neatly wrapped in cloth, except for the head, which was left untouched with a gaping wound in the forehead.

"OW! What'd I trip on?" The wolf asked, standing up ad rubbing his side.

Tang had heard the commotion and ran out to see what the others were looking at. Once he'd saw the body, he took a few steps back and sighed.

"I know who that is. That's Tai Lung's son, Xin. Get my dad," The young panda ordered.

* * *

*With Chao and his team, in the Emperor's palace, two days later*

As the guards brought in the three soldiers, one body guard walked up right beside Chao.

"The Jade Palace masters have found the area where you and Overlord kept the two students. Their gone, but everyone now knows it's either you or Drift," The guard whispered, and Chao nodded. "I'm sorry, but they hunted around enough to find out from some merchant where they were being held. He didn't see you, though."

"KNEEL!" The Emperor thundered, and the three soldiers knelt down in front of the throne. "I'm afraid I have some extremely troubling and disappointing news. We have determined that Specter is not the traitor; so Drift, Chao, I'm sorry, but you both are under arrest until I prove that one of you is not guilty." The Emperor stated.

"You…" Drift whispered, looking at the tiger. "How could you? We went through training together. The academy. We were best friends…"

With that, the guards and soldiers grabbed the tiger and the hyena and forced them to their knees, clasping cuffs around their hands and feet.

_They're closing in, but I can't give myself away. Not yet…_ Chao thought. _Gotta draw focus to Drift._

* * *

*With Overlord, four hours later, in his hideout*

"Anything?" Overlord asked.

"Nothing. I still can't see into the future. We may be in trouble if this doesn't clear up," Jaguar X stated. "If we can't see what possible mistakes we'll make, that means that we won't be able to prevent them from happening."

"I fear you're right. We need more backup now that Xin's gone. Free Zina, X. It's time to bring her home." The figure in black stated, walking away.

"Do you want me to destroy any information that they have on you as well?" X asked. "It may prove beneficial to our cause later on."

"No. Let them get close, because then it gives me a greater pleasure of lashing out. They'd find out my identity sooner or later, and I'm tired of hiding in the shadows." Overlord sighed, exiting the room.

* * *

*With Tang and Max, an hour earlier, back at the Jade Palace*

The two students stood in the room where Zina sat, studying her closely. Po and Crane were still waiting for the masters to get back, but for now, they were supervising a new technique that the two were trying out.

Tang motioned towards the door, and Kaizer walked through, tossing the dead Xin to the floor, then exiting.

"What's this?" Zina snarled, looking at the leopard.

"Your dead friend, Xin. Overlord threw a shuriken into his skull, killing him. For what reason? I don't know. However, I do know that if he'll kill him, he'll kill you," Tang stated.

"Impossible. Overlord would never do such a thing," The prisoner spat.

"Bet that's what Xin thought too," Max sighed. "Listen. If you keep going down this road, you're going to end up like Xin here. Eventually, we'll have someone new in this chair, and you'll be the one in the body bag due to Overlord."

Zina shook her head, starting to panic. "No. No, no, no! He would never do that!"

Tang picked up Xin and held his face mere inches from the black tigress'. "If you don't change, this is you. THIS IS YOU!"

"Tang! Settle down!" Po called from the other room.

"He's using you. All of you. He doesn't care about your wellbeing or revenge. Xin wanted revenge for his father's death, but it looks like he'll never get that now," Max stated. "You wanted payback, and so did he. However, Overlord doesn't care if you guys get what you want or not. Once he's ruler of China, he'll probably kill you all off! If you guys don't get what you want, you'll go after him, but at the point, he'll be too powerful and'll wipe you guys out!"

"Not true…He promised…" Zina whispered.

Tang grabbed the prisoner's shoulder and shook her. "You KNOW it's true. You just don't want to believe it."

Zina looked up at Tang with a hardened expression and sniffed. "What do you wanna know?"

**There it is! Bet you all didn't think THAT would happen!**

**Leave a review with your thoughts!**

**More to come…**


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